The Montana legislature moved a proposal forward to give a person the legal right to their name, image and likeness. (Nathaniel Bailey for the Daily Montanan)
Legislation to give individuals the legal right to their name, image, and likeness passed second reading in the House by unanimous vote on Thursday afternoon.
Brought by Rep. Jill Cohenour, D-Helena, House Bill 514 would give Montanans ownership of their own image. The legislation comes as artificial intelligence programs have been developed that can take audio, video or photos and change them into an image or soundbite that is faked.
The bill gives a person the ability to seek damages should they be faced with a situation where a fake video or photo is being shared — especially if someone is profiting off of it.
“Somebody could take that, and they could make you say something that you didn’t say, and then use that,” Cohenour said in an interview on Thursday. “I’m concerned about monetization of that. I’m concerned about protecting the person that you are.”
There are significant legal ramifications baked into the bill. Unauthorized use of an individual’s name, voice, or likeness could include damages of up to $50,000 for each violation related to digital voice replicas and $5,000 for other uses that were not authorized.
Other states, including Tennessee and California, have passed similar laws. The move also benefits legislators themselves, as AI generated images people then believe were real are an issue the most recent presidential election brought to light.
“This bill really got me thinking about the fact that every one of us on the floor is a public figure,” Cohenour said on the House floor. “You have made speeches in public or made you your likeness, everything about you is available on the internet at this moment.”
Rep. Zooey Zephyr, D-Missoula, spoke in favor of the bill on the House floor, saying it could have a statewide impact.
“Montana has a blossoming film and television industry,” Zephyr said. “And one of the things that we’ve seen cause some hesitation for folks dealing with smaller companies is when an actor will go in, perform a role, and that shady company will say, ‘Well, we got them saying a handful of things, and now we don’t need to bring them back for a second scene, we don’t need to pay them.’”
The bill will head to the Senate if it passes third reading. If the bill is signed into law, the legal right does not expire after death, instead the right to a person’s likeness could be transferred and executed on by heirs or executors for a decade following death.